16GB NAND die should enable wider support for 1TB SSDs as most controllers can't address enough NAND die to have 1TB of NAND with 8GB die. When, I don't know, but the prices will probably be a bit higher in the beginning at least.Reply

You are correct that failure "rates" are difficult to come by and that's why most folks don't understand just how bad the SSD situation is. The data released by the SSD makers is as bogus as a three dollar bill, so take it and the MTBF data as an insult or outright lie.Reply

Of course, Beenthere knows all so don't worry -- just trust his post! Most folks don't understand just how bad the SSD situation is. Like me. I've had several SSDs deployed for a couple years now (Vertex 120, Vertex 2 120) and more recently I've had probably a couple dozen SSDs come through with laptops for testing. Not a single one has failed. Now, granted, I'm not stress testing for hours on end; I'm just using them as I use any computer. This system that I'm typing on for instance has a year+ old MemoRight 240GB SF-2281 SSD. Still going strong!Reply

Jarred, you're acting like a jerk. Wow, you have a reference sample base of three SSDs, that's statitistically very useful or NOT! And you've tested a dozen SSDs for a few days. Yeah that too is a wonderful reference point or NOT! Yet you ignore the thousands of reports from other SSD owners as if they don't exist. You assume that because you have no compatibility, reliability, firmware, drive side reduction, etc. that no one else does either. That is pure ignorance and shows how irresponsible it is to even suggest that you have some basis for making a determination on the reliability or compatibility of SSDs.

It's time to get a grip on the reality that many SSD makers are shipping half-baked products and consumers are the un-paid Beta testers. It is a disgrace and the fact that those in the media charged with responsible reporting tend to ignore the SSD defects or try to rationalise them under the guise of "new tech" even though SSDs have existed for a number years.

In regards to Cheronos SSDs in particular, which is what my comment in this thread was about, Mushkin themselve's have acknowledged an excessive number of failed Chronos SSDs. They think the issue is a bad firmware so they have updated it. That however hasn't prevented thousands of Mushkin SSD owners from having lost data, time and money dealing with Chronos SSDs that were not properly validated prior to shipment - like most SSDs being sold to consumers.

If the SSD makers tried to sell these defective SSDs to military, aerospace or many other industries they'd get sued and be out of business for selling defective goods. Instead they sell them to gullible consumers based on glowing reviews by those in the media who gloss over any recognised defects.

When a reviewer has an SSD fail during testing then gets a second review SSD and it too fails during testing and the reviewer FAILS TO REPORT this in their review, but goes ahead and publishes as if the Samsung 840 Pro has no issues, that is fraud and they should be held accountable for consumer fraud.

As far as Muskin is concerned, I have used their DRAM without issues and I would recommend it. As far as their SSDs, I would not touch one with a ten foot pole until I see a history and reliability.

Here's some information for Jarred and everyone else:

Attacking the messanger does not change reality. Just because you haven't experienced an issue with an SSD, doesn't mean that thousands of other people have not had issues nor that the SSD is not defective. Until the media starts accurately reporting SSD issues, SSD makers will continue to sell improperly validated crap to naive consumers. Reply

We noted the failure of our Samsung SSD 840 Pro in the initial review and also updated the article when our second sample died.

"Both drives will be available on October 15th, however in advance of the release Samsung provided us with a beta sample for review. We were only able to get a 256GB 840 Pro initially but we've already asked Samsung for additional capacities. The other bad news is after running through our client test suite and preparing the drive for a run through our enterprise suite, our pre-production sample died. This isn't the first time we've had an SSD die during our test process, pretty much every company has seen a failure during one of our reviews, but despite Samsung's excellent track record even it isn't immune from early issues. These drives are a few weeks away from retail and Samsung will be getting our sample back this week to figure out what went wrong."

"Update: My replacement 840 Pro also died, I have shipped both drives back to Samsung and are waiting for their analysis of the failures. "

Beenthere is right, Newegg* and other sites seem to have a ton of feedback claiming the devices were DOA or had some issues, but it's hit or miss and it still has a 4/5 star average. Also, it helps to include sources... most people don't believe something until they have facts.

I have owned 6 different ssd's. Of the 6 the three mushkins I've had 0 failures or issues with. 2 of these are over 2 years old. I've had an ocz die in a week and a sandisk die after 2 months. I still have the replacement sandisk but sold the ocz immediately.

I will continue to only purchase mushkin ssd's from now on given the reliability I've had, great support from the guy on their tech support number, and experience in rmaing ram.Reply

I've been using a Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB since May without any issues, done 2 firmware upgrades (one upon purchase in May, one to 504 in October). Drive still performs as it did when I installed it (have about 70GB free now).Reply

I have a Mushkin Chronos Deluxe 240GB SSD in my Mac Mini, and never had any problems with it. I also have two OCZ Vertex 2 drives that are still going strong. Either I'm very lucky or this issue is not nearly as bad as you claim.Reply

Honestly I think reducing the amount of inventory in transit has more to do with bringing manufacturing back to the USA (or Mexico for low skill items). Ex The cost to ship a tshirt across the pacific in a container ship is only a few cents. Fuel costs could soar an order of magnitude without making minimum wage workers in the US competitive with their Vietnamese rivals.Reply

This doesn't mean there is any reduction in transit at all.Made in USA sticker can be put on anything "assembled" in the US.

The chips and circuit board could have been manufactured anywhere in the world. You can still use the sticker as so long as the chips and board are joined together in the US.Basically 99% of the creation of the good is done offshore, and 5 morons on a warehouse somewhere in the US solder the two pieces together and its suddenly Made in America.Reply

I would assume then that the NAND is still at 8GB. Furthermore it is utilizing 25nm asynchronous NAND. I do not know if that was for power restrictions on mSATA or not, but also consider the fact that Mushkin is trying to get rid of their asynchronous NAND stock. Reply

The Intel 313 mSATA card is 3.6 mm thick and that would mean that the Mushkin daughter card would be 1.2 mm to stay within spec. I highly doubt that it is 1.2 mm as that would be too flimsy and the NAND chip itself is 1.2 mm thick.

I want to say that there are 2 installation scenarios, laptop and desktop. Desktops should not be an issue with z-height, but laptops would have some restriction depending on the manufacture. My Lenovo X220 (wannabe Ultrabook) has a decent amount of space for a "thick" mSATA card, other manufactures may have tighter tolerances, especially real Ultrabook class chassis designs.